THE COMMONWEALTH 331 



Childers, MoCulloch and Michie. Mr. Duffy was appointed chair- 

 man, and soon showed his colleagues that he had no idea of being, 

 like Wentworth, a suppliant to the British Parliament. His 

 affection for that estate, which he had once temporarily adorned, 

 was probably not great, and he gave it a gentle kick by declaring 

 that "a negotiation demanding so much caution and forbearance, 

 so much foresight and experience, must originate in the mutual 

 action of the Colonies, and could not safely be relegated to the 

 Imperial Legislature ". The committee carried resolutions through 

 the Victorian Parliament, inviting the Legislatures of South Aus- 

 tralia, New South Wales and Tasmania (Queensland was not yet 

 born) to select three delegates each to meet three from Victoria, 

 and in conference to frame a plan of Federation to be afterwards 

 submitted for approval to their respective Parliaments. To avoid 

 the dilatoriness characteristic of such bodies, the delegates were 

 required to interchange their ideas in writing within a month of 

 their appointment. The preparations were admirable, the results 

 were nil. South Australia and Tasmania promptly responded and 

 named their delegates. The Legislative Council of New South 

 Wales appointed a Select Committee to inquire, and the report it 

 brought up was strongly in favour of joining hands. But it met 

 with a cold reception in the Assembly ; partly because Wentworth, 

 who had made Federation his cause, had many enemies there, 

 and partly from a petty feeling of resentment at Victoria calling a 

 conference on a subject which had already been discussed in the 

 mother-colony. Finally, the Legislative Assembly was dissolved 

 without having dealt with it. The Victorian committee made a 

 few half-hearted attempts to revive interest in the matter during 

 1860, but eventually it dropped out of existence and was forgotten. 

 Ten years passed away, during which period many ministries 

 rose and fell in Victoria, but they all found the struggle for 

 existence too severe to let them meddle with anything that could 

 be put off. In 1870 a Boyal Commission sat for some time in 

 Melbourne and brought up a report strongly in favour of Federa- 

 tion. But Sir James McCulloch was just then getting tired of 

 colonial politics, and he took himself off to England without 

 dealing with the recommendations. His successor in office, Mr. 



